FTSE STI closed 3,130.69, down 22.79 points or -0.72% with a total volume of 2.74b and a total value of S$1.78b. Total number of advance vs decline was 76 vs 425. Of the 30 component index stocks, 6 closed positive, 1 unchanged and 23 in the red. The top 5 gainer component stocks were :-
1. Jardine C&C +0.830
2. HKLand US$ +0.190
3. DBS +0.100
4. Olam +0.010
5. UOB +0.010
5. Wilmar +0.010
The top 5 loser component stocks were :-
1. JSH 500US$ -1.090
2. JMH 400U$ -1.070
3. Kep Corp -0.120
4. SIA -0.110
5. SIA Engg -0.100
US markets opened positive but slide into red and closed almost -1.0%, a swing of almost 2% intra-day. Asian bourses continued to undergoing great selling pressure with Nikkei taking the heaviest hit with a -6.35%, SSE and HSI reopened after holiday playing catch up in selling closed -2.74% and -2.19% respectively. STI slide more than 1.5% intra day but recovered to close -0.72% in moderate volume and value. Only 6 of the 30 index stocks registered positive closing.
The same old story of concerning US Fed tapering that caused global markets sell down. It is about time this old piece of news getting no effect. World Bank also cut global economic forecast and that added some bearish sentiment to the global stock markets.
STI though undergoing selling pressure but technically speaking certain stocks already displayed resilient in particular S-Reits, most of them same like yesterday rebounded from intra-day low upon closing. Sentiment wise might not have caused investors to start buying in but from fundamental and price wise, it is getting attractive giving Singapore unique situation of low interest rate even though US might hike interest rate. S-Reits with their fundamental and Singapore environment is something that investors just have to have in their portfolio as a form of hedging against cost of living and wages not keeping up pace with rising cost of living. The selling global and foreign funds pulling out is a different story to Singapore investors with Singapore stocks. This have to bare in mind as that the only way to beat the market and of course funds. S-Reits prices after this sell down might not be at the cheap level as in 2011 or dirt cheap level in 2009/2010 but it is at a relatively first step entry level for those who wanted to eat a pie of it as a form of hedging.
Market will rebound next week and for you might know, bottom already hit today.
